


Turning Tail

by ThistleFahks



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Crack, F/M, I made adrien kinda mean too but, I was drawing and drew Mari with cat ears and this is the result, Marinette is turned into a cat girl, New Hat, Probably Crack, adrien figures it out, anime akuma, because i'm not even a writer, chloe deserved it, generic chloe-is-mean, like wtf, which is weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-11-18 09:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11288787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThistleFahks/pseuds/ThistleFahks
Summary: Chloe picks on an anime nerd, and he turns into a surprisingly destructive and hard-to track akuma. Oh, and Marinette has a tail.Rating may change.*NEW* Thinking I might just delete this its pretty bad lolmaybe try to re-write but probs not ha





	1. Someones gonna D I E. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't know where this is gonna go. I've got a good bit more written on my computer, and I'm still writing it as we speak, but I really don't know. It could end up smutty or SFW and I just won't know for a while.

This was it. This was the day Marinette would finally snap, and actually murder someone. She could feel it, in the deepest parts of her mind. This was gonna be the day Marinette Dupain-Cheng became a murderer. All she had to figure out now was who was gonna die: Chloe, Hawkmoth, the Akuma of the Day, or Chat Noir. 

Probably all of them, now that she thought about it.

~~~~~~~ Earlier That Day ~~~~~~~

It was a fairly normal day for Marinette and her classmates. She'd arrived late to class, forgot her textbooks, fell asleep dreaming of Adrien, got picked on by Chloe, went home, and helped in the bakery. All in all, perfectly normal. Alya showed up, they went to the park, they were hanging out and having girl time and everything was wonderful.

And then the screaming started. So naturally Alya ran towards the danger to record, and Marinette ran away – to go hide and transform – and THEN ran towards the danger. It was an Akuma, of course, as was often the case whenever anyone started screaming suddenly anymore. But that wasn't what surprised Marinette.

What surprised her was his outfit. He was wearing a school uniform like what you typically see in anime... on the girls. Marinette normally wasn't one to judge, but he also had Sailor Moon looking hair, a headband like in Naruto, and was holding what looked to be half of a pair of scissors in one hand, and some sort of wand in the other.

“I am JAPANIME! And you will ALL see how great anime is!!!” . . . “Especially YOU, Chloe Burgoise!” Of course. Go figured. He was using his scissor to cut things in half, like cars and trees, and smash apart buildings open, and his wand... was being fired at civilians and turning them into various anime-themed things. There, a man suddenly wearing a very skimpy and weird sort of bikini or lingerie, she couldn't tell but it had eyes and that was enough for her to hate is – ah, theres another character from Sailor Moon, oh look! Goku, from Dragon Ball! Wow! She'd had more than enough already.

When Chat Noir showed up, things only got worse, because he seemed utterly thrilled. He kept pointing at different peoples outfits and yelling “Oh! I LOVE that one!” or “What no way that doesn't suit them at all, they'd look much better as ____!” And so on. At this point she missed the puns because while dorky, at least they were kind of funny. (Not that she'd ever admit it, especially to him.)

But honestly, she really was done with this Akuma. “Lucky Charm!” And down fell a body-pillow with some girl on it with weird ears and long white hair, who looked sad but skimpy. She cringed. “Oh! OH! Chobits!” Chat had grabbed her arm, pointing excitedly, but he backed off with a sheepish grin at her glare. “Just go distract the Akuma, Chat!” He nodded, and leapt back into the fray, arguing with the Akuma about who was more badass, Sailor Moon or Kagome, while she tried to figure out what to do with... this. “Ew.”

Apparently, using the pillow as a decoy so he'd slice it with his blade instead of her while she grabbed the object was not the correct plan because next thing she knew, she was on the ground on her hands and knees, pillow a few feet away, the Akuma leaping off to some other part of the city... and Chat Noir trying very, very hard not to laught.

“Wow, Bugaboo, I thought I was supposed to be the cat?” She gave him a confused look and he pointed at a nearby window – and when she saw her reflection. 

Because she had cat ears, and a tail. Bright, almost neon pink, cat ears and tail.

She screamed.


	2. Oh Look it got Worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look I'm actually letting people read MORE of my shitty, cliche-as-heck story :DDD Whoo!!
> 
> 0/10 on originality here guys lol

Apparently the Akuma had gone into hiding, because after Tikki recharged it was nowhere to be found, and eventually she and Chat had had to call it a night. Normally this would be fine, but normally...

Normally Marinette didn't have cat ears and a tail. And she'd have to go to school like this! She stared at herself in her full length mirror, watching as her new appendages twitched and flicked, her tail swishing violently behind her in her apprehensive state. Her parents had been very supportive – once they, too, stopped laughing – and told her she didn't have to go tomorrow if she didn't want to, but Marinette knew better. She HAD to go tomorrow; her absences were starting to affect her grades, and she couldn't afford to miss more school than strictly necessary. She'd just have to hide her new... parts. Thats all. Easy. … Right?

Right... sort of. She arrived the next day in loose-fitting sweats and a large hoodie. Her tail was tucked neatly away in one of her pant legs, and her ears were hidden by the hood, and she had a hat on underneath the hood in case the teacher told her to take it off; although the beret did not go with her outfit at all. She'd hoped nobody would notice, but of course that went out the window pretty much right away; didn't help that her anxiety had kept her up, and instead of being late she was actually a good deal early.

All she had to tell Alya was that she'd gotten hit by the Akuma yesterday and her suspicious and questioning look had turned to one of pity. “That bad?” “Oh yeah. Really bad.” And that was that, but there was always Chloe there, to ruin everything.

“Wow, Maritrash, you look very fitting today! Like trash!” And she'd laughed her stupid, stuck-up laugh as usual. “What happened, get too fat to fit into your other clothes? Aren't you a seamstress or something? Or was it too much work to make them fit?” Just ignore her, just ignore her... eventually she'll go away. She did not. “Hoods aren't allowed at school doofus!” And she'd tugged the hood down so fast the hat went with it – exposing Marinettes new cat ears to everyone, including Adrien, who was stepping out of his car.

Alya gaped, Chloe burst into laughter, and Adrien stared with an unreadable expression, while Marinette tried very hard to hide the ears on top of her head. But everyone had seen them. Adrien had seen them. Her cheeks were burning read. “Oh my GOD! Do you have a tail too!?” Suddenly Chloe was grabbing at her sweats, yanking at them, and before anyone could get her off of Marinette she was yanking out her tail. Marinette hissed in pain, scrambling away and holding the part defensively because she could still feel it, thanks, and Chloe was laughing even harder, and everything was just terrible.

So she ran. She ran into the building because a crowd had gathered around her and Chloe, and inside was her only escape, and she ended up hiding in a bathroom stall, sitting on the toilet and gripping her hair to keep from panicking. 

Outside, Alya was yelling at Chloe because that was borderline assault, suddenly grabbing somebodies clothes, but the blonde girl wasn't paying attention, instead looking at her nails until she spotted Adrien. He was hurrying towards the steps, eager to get inside quickly and hopefully find Marinette, because he'd recognized those ears and tail, he'd stared at them as much as he could yesterday, memorizing every little detail – those were the same bright pink ears and tail La-

“Adrikins! Good morning!” And she'd reached to grab his arm, and he reacted on instinct, ducking and dodging her, seeing her fall but not bothering to catch her, instead glaring. When she looked up at him, obviously hurt (emotionally, physically she was fine.) he just glared. “That was completely uncalled for, Chloe.” And he'd hurried inside, but by then the girl with the ears and tail was gone.


	3. More Generics :DDDDDDD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Originality? Whats that? :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already wrote a bunch of this out, its not perfect, and it was all written at like 7am after not sleeping so if you have any questions please be aware I do not have answers. :> Why am I posting this, then? 
> 
>  
> 
> Masochism.

Marinette waited until ten minutes after the bell rang to go home. Her parents were sympathetic, especially when they saw she wasn't bothering to hide her ears anymore, and didn't ask as she headed upstairs dejectedly. They shared a worried glance, but figured it would be best to give her some time alone before asking.

She tore off the heavy sweats, wearing a tank top underneath and not caring if she was in her underwear since it was just her room, and flopped down on her bed with a groan. Tikki floated up and sat next to her head, Marinettes face burried in the pillow, and gently stroked her chosens hair.

“Its okay Marinette, you aren't the only one to have something embarrassing like this. I know you didn't see, but Kim had weird markings all over his face and white hair.” Marinette only groaned louder. “You don't get it Tikki... Adrien saw me like this! And Chloe is never gonna let me live it down!” Tikki decided not to press any further, and instead went back to stroking Marinettes hair, which lasted a few hours surprisingly as the girl cried and groaned and at one point even screamed into her pillow.

Until there was a tapping on her skylight, and Tikki had to hide because Chat Noir was on her balcony. Why was he on her balcony? “Why are you on my balcony?” She was standing on her bed, upper body through the hole in her roof, staring at the boy who didn't know he was her superhero partner as he laid on her lounge and grinned at her lazily. “I heard there was another Cool Cat in town, and had to come see for myself~ Diggin the ears there, Marinette.” She slammed the door.

“Princess! Please open up!” Came his muffled and now slightly frantic voice through her skylight, but Marinette ignored him. “I'm sorry! I was trying to cheer you up! I didn't mean to make you more upset!” Ugh. Curse this stupid cat and his stupid kindness. She glared as she re-opened the hatch, this time sitting cross legged on her bed as he peered down, frowning.

“Truth is, I... I heard what happened to you, earlier today, and... a bunch of your friends are worried about you. They saw me out looking for the Akuma, and asked me to check on you if it wasn't an inconvenience, and I said 'visiting my Princess is NEVER an inconvenience-'” Her cheeks turned red and she spluttered. “Y-You said that... in front of ALL my friends?!” In front of ADRIEN?!?! He grinned at her, cheekily, before returning to seriousness.

“I just wanted to make sure you were... y'know. Not gonna...” he put his hands together, making them flap like a butterfly, and she cringed. “N-No, I'm not gonna... become akumatized, Chat.” He let out a breath. “Phew. Honestly I don't know if I'd be able to fight you, Princess... I don't think I could handle it.” He gave her a sad smile and her heart broke just a little bit. “Aww... kitty...” “Both you AND Ladybug would be griping about my puns the whole time!” …...... 

He escaped, laughing, through her skylight while she attempted to murder him with a pillow.


	4. Maybe some Originality? What? No? Didn't think so.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still 0/10 for originality in this haha

Three days. Three long, grueling days, the Akuma remained mysteriously out of their sensors; they knew it was still active, because every day new people would come to the Ladyblog showing their newly acquired anime-themed outfits, or posting pictures of sliced up cars and ruined houses. Most begged Ladybug and Chat Noir to hurry, a few said this was the best cosplay outfit they'd ever had and asked if maybe her cleanse could leave the clothes behind. 

But after three days, her parents weren't letting her skip school anymore. “I'm sorry, Marinette, but its taking too long! We can't let you stay out indefinitely; I know its embarrassing, but you're just going to have to deal with it. School is important!” “Yes, Maman...” and so she'd modified a couple pairs of pants to accommodate her tail, and was returning to school in her regular clothes. Alya seemed quite relieved to see her, giving her a hug.

“Y'know... they totally match your outfit?” She wished she had a pillow so she could beat her friend, but the bell rang and she didn't have time to go get one unless she wanted to be late for class, so instead she just glared.

At least the rest of the day went pretty much normal. Everyone pretended like the few in class who had been altered by the Akuma had nothing wrong with them, and Chloe had pointedly ignored, which was better than she had hoped for. All in all, it was actually one of the better mornings Marinette had had all year.

At lunch, she was about to ask Alya to come to the bakery – when a quiet voice behind her spoke up. “Hey, Marinette? Do you think I could... talk to you? In private?” And she turned to find Adrien, sweet, sweet Adrien, giving her a shy smile, rubbing the back of his head nervously. 

“I – uh – ye-YES! I'd do that to love! I mean, love to do that! With you! I mean! Not THAT, that, but! I-” “Yes, she's totally fine having a quick talk with you.” Alya had interjected, saving Marinette from further embarrassment, and shoved her gently on the back with a quiet 'go on!' Adrien smiled, leading her a ways away and even out of sight around the corner of the school. After glancing around nervously and deciding they were well and truly alone, he took a deep breath and prepared to speak.

“So, I know this is kinda... sudden...” She stared at him surprised. Was... was he..?! “And, I know we don't really know each other super well...” Her heart was beating faster, a fuzzy warm feeling in her chest. “... I thought it would be important for you to know as soon as possible...” She was struggling to hold still, her excitement building and building, but she wouldn't rush him. She'd only engrave the memory of this moment deep into her brain. His cheeks had turned a lovely shade of pink, and he was finding it hard to look her in the eyes. “... but you weren't here so I had to hold off, but...” the anticipation coursed through her veins like the best kind of thing. Here it comes. Here it comes!

“I know you're Ladybug.” YEE-- … wait... “W-what?” Everything suddenly felt very, very cold. He bit his lip. “I... I know you're Ladybug. I... I saw her, after she got hit, while she was out looking for the Akuma... your ears and tail are the exact same color as hers. And then I started thinking, y'know... how many girls have almost-blue hair, that they keep in two pig-tails, and cerulean blue eyes, and is at least half-chinese? And then I started thinking about the way you stand up to people, and the way Ladybug is always uncomfortable around Chloe, and... and things kinda just came together?” She was still smiling, somewhat, she could feel it. But the slight apprehension and fear in his eyes made her worry.

“I – I won't tell anyone, I promise, I just.... I figured, since I'd figured it out, you had... had a right to know?” He grimaced, shying slightly away from her as if he feared she'd explode or hit him or something. Instead, she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. 'Okay, you can do this, you can do this... just stay calm, it's just Adrien... you can do this.' “If it helps...” She looked up at him as he held open his shirt, a small black creature peaking out at her and waving. “I'm Chat Noir?” Nope. 

Cue fainting.


	5. Marinette No

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the stuff I wrote, not sure if I'm actually gonna keep going on it. I'll try to, but no promises. If you have ideas, feel free to comment them below! Especially if you have anime references you'd like to see used! ^u^

Everything was dark and warm, and Marinette was surprisingly comfortable wherever she was. She didn't remember going to bed, but this was the most comfortable sleeping place ever. Had she fallen asleep on the couch or something? Maybe at Alyas? She didn't know, but she didn't ever want to wake up, despite the voices around her coaxing her to wakefulness. Wait, voices?

“... quite a shock.” Ugh. “no no, I get it. Id be shocked too, in her position.” Whyyy. “Its really nothing against you, Adrien, she values your friendship both as yourself and as Chat – its just a lot to take in at once.” Stop talking! Don't they know she's trying to sleep? “Ugh. These are always so emotional. I'm bored. And hungry. Adrien give me cheese.” Marinette let out an annoyed groan, nuzzling into what ever warm thing she was laying on, trying to get away from the loud, stupid voices and ignoring the high-pitched squeal above her, instead hugging her weird pillow and shoving her face into a particularly soft and squishy part. It was so warm and nice... nicer than any of her pillows. And warm. And... moving?

She groaned again, but she had to know what was up with this pillow and why it kept squirming while she was trying to sleep. Huh. It was weird looking for a pillow... kinda looked like it was wearing jeans a black shirt... and white jacket. Her eyes followed the shirt up, contemplating the five colorful stripes... then up... where its pillowcase apparently ended leaving a weird, fleshy colored pillow... and up to find a very red-face Adrien Agreste staring at her with wide eyes and looking almost scandalized. She looked down again, to where her head had been resting on his thighs, and where she had been nuzzling - “OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!” 

She jumped back probably ten feet, which was impressive since she didn't stand up that whole time, now sitting on her butt and staring at him with wide eyes as he averted his gaze, coughing and pulling his bad into his lap, face only reddening further. “It... its... f-fine...” he mumbled out weakly, glancing at her face before having to look away hurriedly again. A small black creature was laughing on the ground, rolling and holding its tiny tummy, and Tikki was scolding it. “Plagg! It isn't that funny, can't you see how embarrassed they are?!” “That just makes it BETTER! The look on his FACE when she started nuzzling right into his-!” Tikki promptly thwacked what Marinette assumed was another kwami on its head, and Adrien burried his face, letting out an unintelligible noise between a groan and a squeal.

Marinettes face burned. 'Oh god... oh god why...' And she burried her own face in her hands because she'd nuzzled her face against his--! Adrien was gonna hate her for sure! You don't just DO that! The blonde coughed pointedly, drawing her attention. His cheeks were still pink, but he seemed to be doing a bit better. “A-anyway... do you... remember what we were talking about? Before you...?” He used his hand to sort of mime falling down, which was kinda funny, and she'd have laughed if she didn't want to cry, because oh. Right.

He was Chat Noir. She'd had hear head on Chat Noirs lap... and nuzzled into his crotch like it was the best pillow in the world. She burried her face again, groaning even harder, missing the pained look on Adriens face. Tikki was the one to speak up first to break the silence. “Its okay, its not the end of the world! … Maybe this could be a good thing! Since you two know each others identities, you can work together even without the suits! Help each other find reasons for being late and stuff! And coordinate your efforts better to find Hawkmoth, since now you can do it under his radar!” She grinned, hoping to salvage the situation a bit.

Plagg groaned. “Its getting boring again!” ignoring Tikki's 'shut up Plagg' look, he floated to Marinettes face. “Look. Are you disappointed he's Chat Noir?” She thought about it for a moment, and... no. No, actually. Chat was her friend, and Adrien was her friend... and finding out they were the same brought her friend count down a little, but it meant she knew Adrien a lot better than she thought. She shook her head. “N-No...” Plagg nodded, zooming to face Adrien.

“You. Are you disappointed she's Ladybug?” Adrien snorted. “As if I'd ever be disappointed to find out Ladybug is as awesome as a civilian as she is a superhero!” Then blushed because oops, he was... he was gonna have more tact than that. Whoops. Marinette was red again, and hiding her face. He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “W-well its true?” Tikki beamed, but Plagg decided to ruin the moment. “You're only saying that because she rubbed her face against your-” Adrien smacked him out of the air so fast.


	6. Adriens New Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey whaddaya know I actually wrote another chapter for this woo
> 
> Time to chronologically order things:  
> The akuma showed up on Monday.  
> The three days she missed are Tuesday, she went home, and Wednesday and Thursday she didn't go, Friday she went back and The Reveal.  
> Just to be clear. :>
> 
> Oh hey is that maybe a tiny itty bitty amount of originality I see there?
> 
> What? No?
> 
> Ah well.

Adrien helped her up, and the pair brushed themselves off. “So, er... I was thinking... if you're up for it, that maybe... maybe you'd like to hang out? This weekend? We can do out homework together, and talk about... about hero things? Maybe make a game plan for fighting this akuma?” He glanced towards her ears and her cheeks flushed. 

“Ye-yeah! How does... my house on Saturday sound? My parents will feel better about me spending time with a boy if... they can keep an eye on it.” He nodded, cheeks turning red. “That sounds good.” “Good.Yeah. Its a date – I mean! Not, like, a romantic date or anything, but – a friend date!”

Plagge cackled. “Oh come on, you two were getting pretty friendly a second ago, but now the prospect of a date is making you all tongue tied? Maybe you should loosen those tongues of yours toget-” Tikki body-slammed into the cat kwami, glaring fiercely. “Plagg leave them alone!” “Ow! Okay, okay! Geez!” He rubbed his head, zooming into Adriens shirt. “Nobody has a sense of humor anymore.” The bug gave a satisfied 'Hmph!' and flew into Marinette purse.

There was a fairly awkward moment of silence as neither teen looked at the other, but it was broken by the bell, signaling the end of their lunch time. “Ah crap, we never got to eat...” “Its fine, lets just hurry and get to class.” Marinette nodded and hurried after him, and they only arrived a minute late. Alya gave Marinette a huge grin and thumbs-up, and as soon as she sat down slid her a piece of paper with a small message.

'A: Deets. I wanna know everything!!!'  
'M: Nothing much, we just talked. We're going to do homework together on Saturday; he wanted my help with a project.”  
'A: What project?'  
'M: A physics presentation. He just needs some craftyness.'

Alya gave a snort at her wording. 

'A: Well good luck, kitty girl!'  
'M: Thanks!'

The rest of the day flew by, and suddenly it was Saturday morning, and Marinette was getting her room into some semblance of order. Hiding posters and pictures, putting away fabric scraps, getting out paper and pens, making sure they'd have everything they could need for when Adrien arrived. She had been slightly surprised with how quickly her parents had 'ok'-d the day long hang-out with a boy, but she wasn't going to ask questions.

Once her room was in order, she sent him a quick text – 'You can come whenever' – and then it was time to just wait. She'd been doing a good job until now at postponing her freak out; she'd hoped to make it until the akuma was defeated, but with nothing else to occupy her thoughts anymore, realization was creeping in.

Her tail bushed out slowly, ears down, hairs all over standing on end. Tikki grimaced and brought her chosen a pillow just in time for Marinette to bury her head in it and scream.

Which of course is exactly when Adrien decided to show up.

“Hey Marinette, sorry I'm la–AAAAH?!” He tripped and fell in surprise, reaching out to grab the nearest thing to regain his balance and tipping over her hamper. When Marinette looked up from her pillow, her eyes met Adriens – well, one of his eyes. His face was a deep scarlet, staring at her in shock and embarrassment, and covered in laundry from the hamper he'd spilled.

Draped over his head like a funky hat and covering his eye... was a pair of her dirty underwear. 

Tikki covered her ears while Plagg laughed his ass off when the two screamed and scrambled to fix the mess.


	7. Homework and Tail Touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow I completely forgot this existed haha whoops
> 
> also I accidentally seriousd in my crack a little I think maybe sorta? sorry

Marinette covered the hamper and moved it to another side of the room, tail still bushed out behind her. Adrien was sitting awkwardly on her chaise, face still scarlet and burried in his hands. His entire posture screamed 'mortified'. Her mother knocked on the door, pulling her out of her reverie.

“Marinette, honey? What was all that noise I just heard?” Adrien groaned and curled even further in on himself, and she could see his ears get even redder. He was gonna burst a vein at this rate.

“I-It was nothing, Maman.... I accidentally scared Adrien and he tripped, thats all!” “Alright... I'll be back in thirty minutes with some snacks and to check up on you two, okay?” “Okay!” And she listened as footsteps faded away, and the awkward silence once again consumed the room. A glance at Plagg told her the cat kwami was having a very hard time not laughing, but was too afraid of Tikki to continue doing that. Tikki was patting Adriens shoulder in a comforting way, though she couldn't tell if he'd noticed.

Marinette stood awkwardly in the middle of the room for a moment, before stumbling over to her chair and plopping down. “Uh, A-Adrien? You uh... you okay there?” “Hm hfff Hrmgbs hmbfr'r hm mf hmph.” “... Uh, what?” He moved his hands slightly, not looking anywhere near her, face still completely scarlet. “... I had Ladybugs underwear on my face.” She gave an awkward chuckle, her own face burning slightly hotter. Her blush was even trailing down to her chest now.

“Eh... y-yeah... you did I guess... uhm, sorry about that... by the way. You got here sooner than expected.” Plagg flew up to her bed and burried himself under her pillows, but it didn't muffle his extreme laughter hardly at all. Tikki glared in his direction. “I was waiting downstairs, talking to your parents. They're really nice, which is why it took so long to get up here.” “Yeah. They are.”

And silence resumed, Adrien now focusing intently on her window. Marinette twirled in her chair. He shifted to lean back, skin slowly returning to its normal color. She drummed a soft tune on her thighs. He glanced at her for a split second, then quickly turned away. She bit her lip and spun again. He watched her from the corner of his eye, thinking she hadn't noticed. She flipped on her computer, glad that she'd changed the screen image to something other than her collage of him. He cleared his throat but when she turned wasn't looking her way so she assumed it wasn't a ploy to get her attention.

Plagg had had enough.

“Can we go back to the crotch nuzzling? At least you guys could talk after that.” Marinette slammed Plagg with a pillow, hearing him groan in pain when he hit the floor. Adrien burst into laughter. When Marinette glared at him, he raised his hands in defense. “I-I'm sorry but – you look so put-out and – its just really cute I'm sorry!” He put a hand to his face, trying to hide his smile as he chuckled, still curled away but what had her attention was the look in his eyes; so jovial and affectionate...

… She must have stared because his laughter tapered off, and his expression slowly morphed to one of concern, and then his cheeks started to darken again. “M-Marinette?” “Uh, s-sorry, I... got lost in thought.” She quickly turned her attention back to her computer, opening her browser and pulling up the LadyBlog. She cleared her throat before speaking. “C'mon, lets... see if we can find a pattern for this Akuma.” 

Adrien grabbed the spare chair and pulled it up next to Marinette, sitting a bit closer than she had expected him to and leaning in to get a good look at the screen. His cheeks were still somewhat pink, but she ignore it.

“Alright, so the most recent sighting happened... yesterday evening, near the Louvre, but the majority have happened near fontaine louvois, so I have a feeling thats near where the Akuma lives. Strikes normally happen at dusk, so we should strike then.” He gave a nod. “I'll hide out at the top of the fountain, where I won't be seen easily; you should take a higher vantage point somewhere around.” “What if he doesn't strike there tonight?” “Then we go there every night until he does.”

The trapdoor opened and Sabine popped in. “Are you two hungry? I brought snacks!” Adrien lit up like a candle, eagerly eyeing the plate but obviously restraining himself. “Thank you, maman!” Marinette bit back a chuckle and walked over to accept the plate. “We were just checking the Ladyblog, to see if Ladybug and Chat Noir had found the Akuma yet.” “Oh, I hope they do soon, otherwise you're going to have to start altering more of your clothes.” “Or start wearing more skirts.” Sabine chuckled, and moved down a step. “Well, I'll leave you two be for now. Don't forget to get some work done, too, better to do it now and have more free time than to wait til the last minute!” “Yes maman!”

And the trap door closed. She brought the plate to the desk, setting it down so Adrien could take his pick. “Don't worry; if we eat it all we can always get some more.” He was practically vibrating with joy at the prospect of food with no limit, and grabbed a chocolate bread, stuffing it into his face so fast he smeared a bunch on his cheek, making Marinette giggle.

“You've got a little;” she motioned to her face for him to mirror, but he didn't seem to be getting it. “no, left – other left, down, too far – oh for the love of.” She gave up trying to help him get and reached for his face, using her thumb to wipe up the chocolate smear. He had froze, cheeks pinking again, as she did so, but they turned completely red when she popped her thumb in her mouth without thinking – only to spit it out and make a face. “Eugh, you're wearing makeup? Why?”

His answer was a very tiny squeak of “Ph-photo shoot this morning.” She gave a hum, but didn't say anything else, instead reaching for a macaroon and nibbling on it. She didn't notice him staring with rapt attention at the pastry dangling from her mouth as she switched to her tablet to pull up her homework,

“So, which should we do first? Math?” “Hm? O-Oh! Uh, s-sure... yeah... math sounds good.” He grabbed his own bag, pulling out his textbook, notebook and calculator, and the two once again fell into relative silence. Occasionally he'd notice her getting stuck on a problem and would discreetly slide his calculator towards her so she could see what he did, and she'd return with a grateful smile before jotting down the answer. 

From math they moved on to history – where Marinette was able to repay the favor – then to literature, chemistry and lastly physics. With everything done the two slumped and let out matching groans of 'oh thank god its over please never again.' “Alright, way to go you two! Now we can start making a game plan to face the Akuma!” Tikki hovered above them cheerfully, smiling at them and Marinette hadnever felt so bitter about a smile because she hated homework. 

Still, Tikki had a point. She glanced down at her tail again, stroking her hand along it and not noticing Adrien following the movement with his eyes intently. “Yeah... the sooner I get rid of this thing the better.” “Aw, I kinda like it. It matches your outfit really well.” She glanced at him, raising a brow in question, and he reached out to grasp the fuzzy appendage with a familiar cocky grin. “As I'm 'purr' 'mew' know, I have a 'soft spot' 'fur' cats.” She wanted to glare at him, but he'd accompanied his words with a few gentle strokes and she was having a hard time concentrating. He didn't seem to notice, instead cracking up at his own string of FAR too many puns for one sentence. When he finally did glance up she was harshly biting into her hand, ears pinned back, face red, and staring at him like he'd hung the moon just to kick a puppy.

“Uh, M-Marinette?” Tikki gently floated to his ear. “Maybe you shouldn't touch the tail... I think its... 'sensitive.'” “Sensitive? How do you- OH MY GOD I'M SORRY!!!” He dropped the tail, which Marinette snatched up and hugged to her chest protectively while looking away, his own face turning red yet again. “I HAD NO IDEA – I – I'M REALLY, REALLY SORRY!” “I-its fuh-fine.... just... uh, don't... do it again?” He gulped and nodded, and for once Plagg just shot him a disgusted look.

“Touching a girls tails without permission... I raised you better than this.” The cat kwami shook his head in obvious disappointment. Adrien just rubbed the back of his neck, but Marinette chuckled, trying to ease the mood. “I mean... I did kinda... rub my face against his... uh... ahem. So, uh, tit for tat?” 

God today was hard.


End file.
